NFC pummelled the AFC in h2h matchups this year

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Chaos said:

The top 1 NFC team is all that matters for the AFC teams at this point.  But I think having a bunch of doormats in the AFC, means it is the overall weaker division at this time. The bills certainly benefitted from being in the biggest doormat division. 

 

The AFC was the weaker conference this year, no doubt. Wasn't disputing that. What I was disputing was that the narrative going in was about the AFC as a whole being better. I think it was more that the top of the AFC was better and I think that holds. The Bills definitely benefitted this year from the AFC East sucking. They almost went 6-0 despite trying to lose to the Patriots. Although the Texans were the team that benefitted the most from a sucky division IMO. 5-1 in division. 5-6 against everyone else. 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

Top of the AFC is better, otherwise not so much.

[hondo in seattle]

Even if the two conferences were exactly equal in terms of talent, you wouldn't see the AFC winning exactly 50% of interconference games each year.  The world (math, statistics, probability, etc.) just doesn't work that way.

 

Here's the AFC's record against the NFC over the past few years: 

 

2020     .555

2021     .494

2022    .488

2023    .575

2024    .413

 

Because the sample size each year is relatively small, this doesn't tell us that the AFC was better than the NFC in 2023 but became worse in 2024.  Instead, this looks like the two conferences are roughly equal. 

 

For example, I flipped a coin 80 times to predict the AFC-NFC results in each of the past five years.  Here are the percentages the AFC won (the coin landed on heads)

 

2020     31%

2021     44%

2022     56%

2023     43%

2024     53%

 

AFC-NFC matchups look a lot like a flip of the coin.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[T master]

2 hours ago, Chaos said:

NFC won almost 60% of the head to head matchups this year.  

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/afc-vs-nfc-record-year-by-year-all-teams-grouped-by-conference-last-20-years

The common narrative that the AFC is better than the NFC may be a bit outdated. 


 

 

The Rams did beat the Bills this year but i wouldn't call that a pummeling by any means . If the Bills had a bit faster start that was a game they should have won & if they play them again for any reason i feel the Bills would beat them .

 

Not sure about any other teams but i think the Bills can give any of them a run for their money ...

 

GO BILLS !!! 

[RyanC883]

3 hours ago, chongli said:

 

And yet the Bills completely dominated the NFC teams in the 90's, having the best IIRC (or second best?) inter-conference record of any team.

 

We might have had a 17-year playoff drought, but we made up for that in the 90's and today.

 

um......yeah, about that....

[JESSEFEFFER]

Well the NFC hosted an AFC team this year for the "17th game" that was added to the schedule.  These are matched up as teams of the same divisional finish from the prior year.   I know home field is not a big enough advantage to account for all of that difference but it might account for some of that as well some of the AFC advantage last year.

[Brand J]

4 hours ago, US Egg said:

Not sure what the point of this thread is but figure throw this in:

SB wins since merger

AFC 27

NFC 24

 

Brady’s 6 and Mahomes’s 3 greatly contribute to that number. 

[US Egg]

3 minutes ago, Brand J said:

Brady’s 6 and Mahomes’s 3 greatly contribute to that number. 

Can you name who didn’t?…..ouch.

[mannc]

5 hours ago, corta765 said:

Bills went 3-1

4-1

[Brand J]

2 minutes ago, US Egg said:

Can you name who didn’t?…..ouch.

Just meant that’s a ton of SB wins in recent memory between 2 AFC guys. If either were in the NFC that conference would be decisively ahead. 

 

I went and looked at the list of QBs who have 3 or more SB wins. It’s a pretty short list:

 

Tom Brady (7)

Joe Montana (4)

Terry Bradshaw (4)

Patrick Mahomes (3)

Troy Aikman (3)

Earl Morrall (3)

 

No active QB other than Mahomes has more than 1 SB win. All the guys with 2 are retired.

[US Egg]

1 minute ago, Brand J said:

Patrick Mahomes (3)

Troy Aikman (3)

Double Ouch.

[Brand J]

2 minutes ago, US Egg said:

Double Ouch.

Some team has to put a stop to the Mahomes madness!

[JESSEFEFFER]

24 minutes ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

Well the NFC hosted an AFC team this year for the "17th game" that was added to the schedule.  These are matched up as teams of the same divisional finish from the prior year.   I know home field is not a big enough advantage to account for all of that difference but it might account for some of that as well some of the AFC advantage last year.

  Ok.  Not a big source.  NFC won those 17th game home matchups, 9-7.